Advertisement
Published: March 22nd 2014
Edit Blog Post
Monday Today was the train to Hellfire Pass. The host’s mother and her friend were coming as Thais don't usually do these things but they can ride the train for free. We arrived at the station over half an hour early and the train arrives over half an hour late. They sat in the free cars while the rest of us sat in the 100THB cars (tourists and their guides). I started chatting with the guides near me and they arranged for a car to take me to the cutting which was about 15kms further out from the end of the line.
The train rattled and clacked thru the countryside with the windows wide open for over 2 hours. Generally you risk serious injury or death if you put any parts of your body outside the windows, because vegetation and structures are located very close to the train. It's flat farmland which gradually gives way to rough and rocky hills. We get occasional sightings of the river and cross some of the original timber viaducts.
I buy lunch for the 3 of us at the rendezvous in Nam Tok, $5, for chicken fried rice and a bottle of
Manu's mother and her friend
neither could speak a word of English but we got by OK water. They will visit the waterfall and return on the next train. I miss the train and return by bus.
My taxi driver is a big improvement on yesterday. A woman in a nice air con car. But still hardly any English. I returned from the cutting on the rail line red-faced and dripping but very glad I'd been there. I just had time to freshen up in the museum toilets before they closed. Because we'd arrived so late I didn't have much time to look thru the museum which told the story of the war and railway. You can also walk out to the end of the section which has been cleared of jungle/bush but that takes about 3hrs.
I caught to local bus and had to sit in the front seat because I didn't fit in the others. It took about an hour to return to Kanchanaburi and probably arrived at a similar time as the train. I tried to ring my host but couldn't get thru. So I got off the bus near the rail line and looked for a taxi. Finally a guy on a scooter stopped and asked what I needed. Long story
short, he took me back to the resort on his bike. We came in a different way and it was a very pretty drive. I wore no helmet and the rider used his phone as we went. He would jam it inside his helmet and talk or listen to the GPS instructions. I’d glad we were travelling quite slowly.
The pool water has been clearing up & I can now see the bottom. Another few days and it'll be crystal. I'm still the only guest. My cabin is the only wooden one, set on stumps and with a little deck in front. A concrete bathroom is attached to the rear. A pigeon has a nest of hatchlings above the bathroom ceiling. They softly call to her while she scrapes and flaps around in the space. Sparrows live in the front under the thatch.
I couldn't get the air con to turn on tonight and there no sign off my host. Might have to sleep with the door open. The help rode out on his bike to fetch me some dinner in a plastic bag. I've got no idea what it was. A soup containing rubbery things, some slimy,
some crunchy, some white, some dark and some greens and sausage.
Time to head back to my room. There's a shocking Thai horror movie on.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.1s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0457s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb